Printing of redundantly encoded distributed data

ABSTRACT

A method of printing digital data on a photograph includes loading an image processing program, transforming image data with the image processing program to produce transformed image data; redundantly encoding the transformed image data and the image processing program into a distributed form; and printing the redundantly encoded data using an invisible ink on a surface of a print media while simultaneously printing out the transformed image data as a photographic image in a visual, human readable form on the same surface of said print media. The redundantly encoded data is distributed across the print media such that the encoded data may be read and decoded despite a partial obliteration of the encoded data.

This is a Continuation of Ser. No. 09/693,083 filed on Oct. 20, 2000which is herein incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a data processing method and apparatusand, in particular, discloses a data encoding method and apparatus forstoring data on photographs using an ink jet printing system using aninfra-red ink wherein the data is original image data taken from acamera system which has been transformed by an image processing program,the data also including a copy of the program.

CO-PENDING APPLICATIONS

Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the present inventionare disclosed in the following co-pending applications filed by theapplicant or assignee of the present invention with the presentapplication:

-   Ser. Nos. 09/693,471, 09/693,134, 09/693,078, 09/693,226 09/693,317

The disclosures of these co-pending applications are incorporated hereinby reference.

Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the present inventionare disclosed in the following co-pending application filed by theapplicant or assignee of the present invention on Jul. 10, 1998: USSN09/113,070 USSN 09/112,785

The disclosures of this co-pending application are incorporated hereinby reference.

Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the present inventionare disclosed in the following co-pending applications filed by theapplicant or assignee of the present invention on Jun. 30, 2000: USSN09/608,308 USSN 09/608,779 USSN 09/607,987 USSN 09/608,776 USSN09/607,250 USSN 09/607,991

The disclosures of these co-pending applications is incorporated hereinby reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As the applicant has previously noted in pending applications U.S. Ser.No. 09/113,070 and U.S. Ser. No. 09/112,785 there is a general need fora print media scanning system that allows for high volumes of computerdata to be stored on a simple print media, such as a card whilesimultaneously tolerating a high degree of corruption when read by ascanning device. For example, the form of distribution can suffer anumber of data corruption errors when the surface is scanned by ascanning device. The errors can include:

-   -   1. Dead pixel errors which are a result of reading the surface        of the card with a linear CCD having a faulty pixel reader for a        line thereby producing the same value for all points on the        line.    -   2. Preferably, the system adopted can tolerate errors wherein        text is written by the owner of the card on the surface. Such        errors are ideally tolerated by any scanning system scanning the        card.    -   3. Various data errors on the surface of the card may arise and        any scuffs or blotches should be tolerated by any system        determining the information stored on the surface of the card.    -   4. A certain degree of “play” exists in the insertion of the        card into a card reader. This play can comprise a degree of        rotation of the card when read by a card reader.    -   5. Further, the card reader is assumed to be driven past a        linear image sensor such as a CCD by means of an electric motor.        The electric motor may experience a degree of fluctuation which        will result in fluctuations in the rate of transmission of the        data across the surface of the CCD. These motor fluctuation        errors should also be tolerated by the data encoding method on        the surface of the card.    -   6. The scanner of the surface of the card may experience various        device fluctuations such that the intensity of individual pixels        may vary. Reader intensity variations should also be accounted        for in any system or method implemented in the data contained on        the surface of the card.

Ideally, any scanning system should be able to maintain its accuracy inthe presence of errors due to the above factors.

In applications U.S. Ser. No. 09/113,070 and U.S. Ser. No. 09/112,785,the applicant disclosed a method and apparatus for printing data in anencoded fault tolerant form on the back of a photograph preferably usingblack ink on a white background. The data represented the photograph ina digital image file format and/or data comprising a computer programmescript which could be run to recreate the image or to apply some effectto the image. A programming language called a VARK script was inventedfor this purpose which was designed to be portable and deviceindependent.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention seeks to provide an alternative to that method ofencoding and printing data by recording the digital data correspondingto a version of an image produced by a given image processing programalong with a copy of the program by printing that information in anencoded fault tolerant digital form over or with the image itself usinginfra-red ink, the image and the data being recorded on a print mediausing an ink jet printing system as formerly disclosed by the applicant.

It is an object of the present invention to provide for a method ofprinting digital data on a photograph wherein the data is image datafrom a camera system which has been transformed by an image processingprogram including the steps of:

-   -   a) receiving image data corresponding to an image;    -   b) transforming said image data with an image processing program        the steps of which are contained on a card;    -   c) encoding said transformed image data and said program into a        fault tolerant digital form;    -   d) printing out said fault tolerant digital form of said        transformed image data along with a fault tolerant encoded form        of said image processing program using an ink jet printing        process with an invisible ink on a surface of a print media        while simultaneously printing out said transformed image data as        a photographic image representing said image data in a visual,        human readable form on the same surface of said print media.

Preferably, said encoding step includes compressing said image data andprocessing it using a Reed-Solomon algorithm.

The invisible ink may be an infra-red absorbing ink with negligibleabsorption in the visible spectrum.

It is a further object of the invention to provide apparatus forprinting in infra-red ink encoded fault tolerant digital data on aphotograph said apparatus including:

-   -   a) a camera system for imaging an image including means for        outputting said image in a digital format; said camera system        further including means for inputting an image processing        program;    -   b) means for processing said digital format of said image into a        transformed version of said image in accordance with program        steps of said image processing program;    -   c) means for converting said digital format of said image and        said image processing program into a fault tolerant encoded        digital form;    -   d) means for printing on a surface said transformed version of        said image and said fault tolerant encoded digital form of said        image and said image processing program using an ink jet        printing process, said fault tolerant encoded digital form being        printed using an infra-red ink.

Preferably, the means for printing employs a pagewidth printhead usingan ink jet structure, for example, as disclosed in applicant's U.S. Ser.No. 09/608,308, U.S. Ser. No. 09/608,779, U.S. Ser. No. 09/607,987, U.S.Ser. No. 09/608,776, U.S. Ser. No. 09/607,250, and U.S. Ser. No.09/607,991 with a print roll feeding print media therethrough, forexample as disclosed in applicant's Artcam applications, U.S. Ser. No.09/113,070 and U.S. Ser. No. 09/112,785.

According to a preferred form of the invention the information isprinted out on a photograph which may be a standard size ofapproximately 102×152 mm (4″×6″) compared to the prior art data encodedcard which has a format of 86 mm×55 mm (approximately the size of acredit card). The increased size of the recording media allows nearlyfour times as much data to be recorded on the photograph compared to theprevious format while using a similar or identical data encodingtechnique.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Notwithstanding any other forms which may fall within the scope of thepresent invention, preferred forms of the invention will now bedescribed, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates the data surface of a card or photograph;

FIG. 2 illustrates schematically the layout of a single data block;

FIG. 3 illustrates a single data block;

FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 illustrate magnified views of portions of the datablock of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 illustrates a single target structure;

FIG. 7 illustrates the target structure of a data block;

FIG. 8 illustrates the positional relationship of targets relative toborder clocking regions of a data region;

FIG. 9 illustrates the orientation columns of a datablock;

FIG. 10 illustrates the array of dots of a datablock;

FIG. 11 illustrates schematically the structure of data for Reed-Solomonencoding;

FIG. 12 illustrates in hexadecimal notation the structure of controlblock data before Reed-Solomon encoding;

FIG. 13 illustrates the Reed-Solomon encoding process; and

FIG. 14 illustrates the layout of encoded data within a datablock.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention preferably uses an inkjet printing system havingat least four ink jet print nozzles per dot in a pagewidth printhead.The four inks would be cyan, magenta, and yellow for printing a colorimage and an infra-red (IR) ink for printing data in an encoded faulttolerant form along with the color image. One such ink jet printheadwhich can print using four inks is disclosed in the applicant'sco-pending applications U.S. Ser. No. 09/608,779, U.S. Ser. No.09/607,987, U.S. Ser. No. 09/608,776, U.S. Ser. No. 09/607,250, and U.S.Ser. No. 09/607,991.

Intra-red inks suitable for use with the current invention are disclosedin the applicant's co-pending applications, Australian provisionalpatent applications PQ9412 and PQ9376 both filed on Aug. 14, 2000 andapplicant's applications PQ9509 filed on Aug. 18, 2000, and PQ9571, andPQ9561 filed on Aug. 21, 2000.

Techniques that can be used to encode the information for printing aninfra-red ink are disclosed applicant's co-pending application U.S. Ser.No. 09/113,070 and U.S. Ser. No. 09/112,785, the description of which isincorporated herein by reference. These techniques were described asArtcard, alternative Artcard or Dotcard formats. In these applications,the data was printed using a black ink on a white background on the backof a card of size 85 mm×55 mm in an active data area of 80 mm×50 mm. Inthis way 967 Kbytes of data was fault tolerantly encoded as 1.89 Mbytesof data using 15,876,000 printed dots.

Encoded data Format

Of course, while other encoded data formats are possible, there will nowbe described one such encoded data format using the “alternativeArtcard” format as above referred to) with a number of preferablefeatures.

Encoded Data Overview

The Encoded data can be used to recover the image over which it iswritten or to provide a digital format thereof for manipulation inapplications, for example transmission over a digital telecommunicationnetwork or image processing in a computer.

Encoded data technology can also be independent of the printingresolution. The notion of storing data as dots on print media simplymeans that if it is possible to put more dots in the same space (byincreasing resolution), then those dots can represent more data. Thepreferred embodiment assumes utilization of 1600 dpi printing on a 102mm×152 mm (4″×6″) size photograph as the sample photograph, but it issimple to determine alternative equivalent layouts and data sizes forother photograph sizes and/or other print resolutions. For example, inthe applicant's ink jet printing camera system a panoramic print canalso be produced which is twice the length of the standard sizephotograph allowing twice the data to be recorded enhancing redundancyof the image data. Regardless of the print resolution, the readingtechnique remains the same. After all decoding and other overhead hasbeen taken into account, the encoded data format is capable of storing 3to 4 Megabyte of data for a 4″×6″ print size at print resolutions up to1600 dpi. More encoded data can be stored at print resolutions greaterthan 1600 dpi.

Format of Encoded Data

The structure of data on the photograph is therefore specificallydesigned to aid the recovery of data. This section describes the formatof the data on a photograph. This format was previously described inU.S. Ser. No. 09/113,070 and U.S. Ser. No. 09/112,785.

Dots

The dots printed on the photograph are in infra-red ink with or over acolor image. Consequently a “data dot” is physically different from a“non-data dot”. When the photograph is illuminated by an infra-redsource having complementary spectral properties to the absorptioncharacteristics of the IR ink the data appears as a monochrome displayof “black” on “white” dots. The black dots correspond to dots were theIR ink is and has absorbed the IR illumination and “white” dotscorrespond to areas of the color image over which no IR ink has beenprinted and reflecting the IR illumination substantially unattenuated oronly partially attenuated. Hereinafter the terms black and white as justdefined will be used when referring to the IR ink dots recording data.

In describing this embodiment, the term dot refers to a physical printeddot (of IR ink) on a photograph. When an encoded data reader scansencoded data, the dots must be sampled at at least double the printedresolution to satisfy Nyquist's Theorem. The term pixel refers to asample value from an encoded data reader device. For example, when 1600dpi dots are scanned at 4800 dpi there are 3 pixels in each dimension ofa dot, or 9 pixels per dot. The sampling process will be furtherexplained hereinafter.

Turning to FIG. 1, there is shown the data surface 101 illustrating asample of encoded data. Each photograph having encoded data consists ofan “active” region 102 surrounded by a border region 103. The border 103contains no data information, but can be used by an encoded data readerto calibrate signal levels. The active region is an array of data blockse.g. 104, with each data block separated from the next by a gap of 8image dots e.g. 106. Depending on the print resolution, the number ofdata blocks on a photograph will vary. On a 1600 dpi printed Photographof 4″×6″, the array can be 15×14 data blocks in an area of approximately97 mm.×147 mm. for 2.5 mm margins. Each data block 104 has dimensions of627×394 dots with an inter-block gap 106 of 8 image dots.

Data Blocks

Turning now to FIG. 2, there is shown a single data block 107. Theactive region of encoded data consists of an array of identicallystructured data blocks 107. Each of the data blocks has the followingstructure: a data region 108 surrounded by clock-marks 109, borders 110,and targets 111. The data region holds the encoded data proper, whilethe clock-marks, borders and targets are present specifically to helplocate the data region and ensure accurate recovery of data from withinthe region.

Each data block 107 has dimensions of 627×394 dots. Of this, the centralarea of 595×384 dots is the data region 108. The surrounding dots areused to hold the clock-marks, borders, and targets.

Borders and Clockmarks

FIG. 3 illustrates a data block with FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 illustratingmagnified edge portions thereof. As illustrated in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5,there are two 5 dot high border and clockmark regions 170, 177 in eachdata block: one above and one below the data region. For example, thetop 5 dot high region consists of an outer black dot border line 112(which stretches the length of the data block), a white dot separatorline 113 (to ensure the border line is independent), and a 3 dot highset of clock marks 114. The clock marks alternate between a white andblack row, starting with a black clock mark at the 8th column fromeither end of the data block. There is no separation between clockmarkdots and dots in the data region.

The clock marks are symmetric in that if the encoded data is insertedrotated 180 degrees, the same relative border/clockmark regions will beencountered. The border 112, 113 is intended for use by an encoded datareader to keep vertical tracking as data is read from the data region.The clockmarks 114 are intended to keep horizontal tracking as data isread from the data region. The separation between the border andclockmarks by a white line of dots is desirable as a result of blurringoccurring during reading. The border thus becomes a black line withwhite on either side, making for a good frequency response on reading.The clockmarks alternating between white and black have a similarresult, except in the horizontal rather than the vertical dimension. Anyencoded data reader must locate the clockmarks and border if it intendsto use them for tracking. The next section deals with targets, which aredesigned to point the way to the clockmarks, border and data.

Targets in the Target Region

As shown in FIG. 7, there are two 15-dot wide target regions 116, 117 ineach data block: one to the left and one to the right of the dataregion. The target regions are separated from the data region by asingle column of dots used for orientation. The purpose of the TargetRegions 116, 117 is to point the way to the clockmarks, border and dataregions. Each Target Region contains 6 targets e.g. 118 that aredesigned to be easy to find by an encoded data reader. Turning now toFIG. 6 there is shown the structure of a single target 120. Each target120 is a 15×15 dot black square with a center structure 121 and arun-length encoded target number 122. The center structure 121 is asimple white cross, and the target number component 122 is simply twocolumns of white dots, each being 2 dots long for each part of thetarget number. Thus target number 1 's target id 122 is 2 dots long,target number 2's target id 122 is 4 dots wide etc.

As shown in FIG. 7, the targets are arranged so that they are rotationinvariant with regards to card insertion. This means that the lefttargets and right targets are the same, except rotated 180 degrees. Inthe left Target Region 116, the targets are arranged such that targets 1to 6 are located top to bottom respectively. In the right Target Region,the targets are arranged so that target numbers 1 to 6 are locatedbottom to top. The target number id is always in the half closest to thedata region. The magnified view portions of FIG. 7 reveals clearly thehow the right targets are simply the same as the left targets, exceptrotated 180 degrees.

As shown in FIG. 8, the targets 124, 125 are specifically placed withinthe Target Region with centers 55 dots apart. In addition, there is adistance of 55 dots from the center of target 1 (124) to the firstclockmark dot 126 in the upper clockmark region, and a distance of 55dots from the center of the target to the first clockmark dot in thelower clockmark region (not shown). The first black clockmark in bothregions begins directly in line with the target center (the 8th dotposition is the center of the 15 dot-wide target).

The simplified schematic illustrations of FIG. 8 illustrates thedistances between target centers as well as the distance from Target 1(124) to the first dot of the first black clockmark (126) in the upperborder/clockmark region. Since there is a distance of 55 dots to theclockmarks from both the upper and lower targets, and both sides of theencoded data are symmetrical (rotated through 180 degrees), the card canbe read left-to-right or right-to-left. Regardless of reading direction,the orientation does need to be determined in order to extract the datafrom the data region.

Orientation Columns

As illustrated in FIG. 9, there are two 1 dot wide Orientation Columns127, 128 in each data block: one directly to the left and one directlyto the right of the data region. The Orientation Columns are present togive orientation information to an encoded data reader: On the left sideof the data region (to the right of the Left Targets) is a single columnof white dots 127. On the right side of the data region (to the left ofthe Right Targets) is a single column of black dots 128. Since thetargets are rotation invariant, these two columns of dots allow anencoded data reader to determine the orientation of the photograph—hasthe photograph been inserted the right way, or back to front.

From the encoded data reader's point of view, assuming no degradation tothe dots, there are two possibilities:

-   -   If the column of dots to the left of the data region is white,        and the column to the right of the data region is black, then        the reader will know that the photograph has been inserted the        same way as it was written.

If the column of dots to the left of the data region is black, and thecolumn to the right of the data region is white, then the reader willknow that the photograph has been inserted backwards, and the dataregion is appropriately rotated. The reader must take appropriate actionto correctly recover the information from the photograph.

Data Region

As shown in FIG. 10, the data region of a data block consists of 595columns of 384 dots each, for a total of 228,480 dots. These dots mustbe interpreted and decoded to yield the original data. Each dotrepresents a single bit, so the 228,480 dots represent 228,480 bits, or28,560 bytes. The interpretation of each dot can be as follows: Black 1White 0

The actual interpretation of the bits derived from the dots, however,requires understanding of the mapping from the original data to the dotsin the data regions of the photograph.

Mapping Original Data to Data Region Dots

There will now be described the process of taking an original data fileof maximum size 2,986,206 bytes and mapping it to the dots in the dataregions of the 210 data blocks on a 1600 dpi photograph. An encoded datareader would reverse the process in order to extract the original datafrom the dots on a photograph. At first glance it seems trivial to mapdata onto dots: binary data is comprised of 1s and 0s, so it would bepossible to simply write black and white dots onto the card. This schemehowever, does not allow for the fact that ink can fade, parts of a cardmay be damaged with dirt, grime, or even scratches. Withouterror-detection encoding, there is no way to detect if the dataretrieved from the card is correct. And without redundancy encoding,there is no way to correct the detected errors. The aim of the mappingprocess then, is to make the data recovery highly robust, and also givethe encoded data reader the ability to know it read the data correctly.

There are four basic steps involved in mapping an original data file todata region dots:

-   -   Compress the original data    -   Redundancy encode the compressed data    -   Shuffle the encoded data in a deterministic way to reduce the        effect of localized encoded data damage    -   Write out the shuffled, encoded data as dots to the data blocks        on the photograph. Each of these steps is examined in detail in        the following sections.        Compress the Original Data

The data to be recorded on the photograph may comprise several blocks,e.g.

-   -   1) color image data    -   2) audio annotation data    -   3) image processing control script    -   4) position data (such as from a GPS receiver)    -   5) time and date    -   6) camera orientation    -   7) tracking data—such as ink cartridge information, software        versions, camera identification, and so forth.

For a high quality image, the source image data may be 2000×3000 pixels,with 3 bytes per pixel. This results in 18 Mbytes of data, which is morethan can be stored in infra-red dots on the photo. The image data can becompressed by a factor of around 10:1 with generally negligiblereduction in image quality using an image compression technique.Suitable image compression techniques include JPEG compression based ondiscrete cosine transforms and Huffman coding, wavelet compression asused in the JPEG2000 standard or fractal compression.

With 10:1 compression, the 18 Mbytes of a high quality image results in1.8 Mbytes of compressed data.

The audio annotation data can also be compressed using, for example, MP3compression.

The image processing control scrip will typically not consume more than10 Kbytes of data, with the exception of images embedded in the script.These images should generally be compressed. A suitable image processingscript language designed for photograph processing is the ‘Vark’language developed by the present applicant and disclosed in U.S. Ser.No. 09/113,070 (Docket No. ART02US). The remaining data is small, andneed not be compressed.

Redundancy Encode Using Reed-Solomon Encoding

The mapping of data to encoded data dots relies heavily on the method ofredundancy encoding employed. Reed-Solomon encoding is preferably chosenfor its ability to deal with burst errors and effectively detect andcorrect errors using a minimum of redundancy. Reed Solomon encoding isadequately discussed in the standard texts such as Wicker, S., andBhargava, V., 1994, Reed-Solomon Codes and their Applications, IEEEPress, Rorabaugh, C, 1996; Error Coding Cookbook, McGraw-Hill, Lyppens,H., 1997; Reed-Solomon Error Correction, Dr. Dobb's Journal, January1997 (Volume 22, Issue 1).

A variety of different parameters for Reed-Solomon encoding can be used,including different symbol sizes and different levels of redundancy.Preferably, the following encoding parameters are used:

-   -   m=8    -   t=64

Having m=8 means that the symbol size is 8 bits (1 byte). It also meansthat each Reed-Solomon encoded block size n is 255 bytes (2 ⁸−1symbols). In order to allow correction of up to t symbols, 2t symbols inthe final block size must be taken up with redundancy symbols. Havingt=64 means that 64 bytes (symbols) can be corrected per block if theyare in error. Each 255 byte block therefore has 128 (2×64) redundancybytes, and the remaining 127 bytes (k=127) are used to hold originaldata. Thus:

-   -   n=255    -   k=127

The practical result is that 127 bytes of original data are encoded tobecome a 255-byte block of Reed-Solomon encoded data. The encoded255-byte blocks are stored on the photograph and later decoded back tothe original 127 bytes again by the encoded data reader. The 384 dots ina single column of a data block's data region can hold 48 bytes (384/8).595 of these columns can hold 28,560 bytes. This amounts to 112Reed-Solomon blocks (each block having 255 bytes). The 210 data blocksof a complete photograph can hold a total of 23,520 Reed-Solomon blocks(5,997,600 bytes, at 255 bytes per Reed-Solomon block). Two of theReed-Solomon blocks are reserved for control information, but theremaining blocks are used to store data. Since each Reed-Solomon blockholds 127 bytes of actual data, the total amount of data that can bestored on an photograph is 2,986,786 bytes (23,518×127). If the originaldata is less than this amount, the data can be encoded to fit an exactnumber of Reed-Solomon blocks, and then the encoded blocks can bereplicated until all 23,518 blocks are used. FIG. 11 illustrates theoverall form of encoding utilized.

Each of the two Control blocks 132, 133 contain the same encodedinformation required for decoding the remaining 23,518 Reed-Solomonblocks:

-   -   The number of Reed-Solomon blocks in a full message (16 bits        stored lo/hi), and The number of data bytes in the last        Reed-Solomon block of the message (8 bits). These two numbers        are repeated 32 times (consuming. 96 bytes) with the remaining        31 bytes reserved and set to 0. Each control block is then        Reed-Solomon encoded, turning the 127 bytes of control        information into 255 bytes of Reed-Solomon encoded data.

The Control Block is stored twice to give greater chance of itsurviving. In addition, the repetition of the data within the ControlBlock has particular significance when using Reed-Solomon encoding. Inan uncorrupted Reed-Solomon encoded block, the first 127 bytes of dataare exactly the original data, and can be looked at in an attempt torecover the original message if the Control Block fails decoding (morethan 64 symbols are corrupted). Thus, if a Control Block fails decoding,it is possible to examine sets of 3 bytes in an effort to determine themost likely values for the 2 decoding parameters. It is not guaranteedto be recoverable, but it has a better chance through redundancy. Saythe last 159 bytes of the Control Block are destroyed, and the first 96bytes are perfectly ok. Looking at the first 96 bytes will show arepeating set of numbers. These numbers can be sensibly used to decodethe remainder of the message in the remaining 23,518 Reed-Solomonblocks.

To store a 3-color image each color either “on” or “off” and size 4″×6″(102 mm×152 mm) at 1600 dpi resolution requires 210,400 bits or 26,300bytes of data. A program in Vark script may be approximately 10-15Kbytes long. If we assume a program of size 13,568 bytes, this requires39,868 Kbytes to be encoded to store the image data and the programdata, according to the invention. The number of Reed-Solomon blocksrequired is 314. The first 313 Reed-Solomon blocks are completelyutilized, consuming 39,751 bytes (313×127). The 314^(th) block has only117 bytes of data (with the remaining 10 bytes all 0s).

A hex representation of the 127 bytes in each Control Block data beforebeing Reed-Solomon encoded would be as illustrated in FIG. 12.

Scramble the Encoded Data

Assuming all the encoded blocks have been stored contiguously in memory,a maximum 5,997,600 bytes of data can be stored on the photograph (2Control Blocks and 23,518 information blocks, totaling 23,520Reed-Solomon encoded blocks). Preferably, the data is not directlystored onto the photograph at this stage however, or all 255 bytes ofone Reed-Solomon block will be physically together on the card. Anydirt, grime, or stain that causes physical damage to the card has thepotential of damaging more than 64 bytes in a single Reed-Solomon block,which would make that block unrecoverable. If there are no duplicates ofthat Reed-Solomon block, then the entire photograph cannot be decoded.

The solution is to take advantage of the fact that there are a largenumber of bytes on the photograph, and that the photograph has areasonable physical size. The data can therefore be scrambled to ensurethat symbols from a single Reed-Solomon block are not in close proximityto one another. Of course pathological cases of photograph degradationcan cause Reed-Solomon blocks to be unrecoverable, but on average, thescrambling of data makes the data much more robust. The scramblingscheme chosen is simple and is illustrated schematically in FIG. 13. Allthe Byte 0 s from each Reed-Solomon block are placed together 136, thenall the Byte 1 s etc. There will therefore be 23,520 byte 0's, then23,520 Byte l's etc. Each data block on the photograph can store 28,560bytes. Consequently, there are approximately 4 bytes from eachReed-Solomon block in each of the data blocks on the photograph.

Under this scrambling scheme, complete damage to 16 entire data blockson the photograph will result in 64 symbol errors per Reed-Solomonblock. This means that if there is no other damage to the photograph,the entire data is completely recoverable, even if there is no dataduplication.

Write the Scrambled Encoded Data to the Photograph

Once the original data has been Reed-Solomon encoded, duplicated, andscrambled, there are 5,997,600 bytes of data to be stored on thephotograph. Each of the data blocks on the photograph stores 28,560bytes.

The data is simply written out to the photograph data blocks so that thefirst data block contains the first 28,560 bytes of the scrambled data,the second data block contains the next 28,560 bytes etc.

As illustrated in FIG. 14, within a data block, the data is written outcolumn-wise left to right. Thus the left-most column within a data blockcontains the first 48 bytes of the 28,560 bytes of scrambled data, andthe last column contains the last 48 bytes of the 28,560 bytes ofscrambled data. Within a column, bytes are written out top to bottom,one bit at a time, starting from bit 7 and finishing with bit 0. If thebit is set (1), a black dot (IR ink dot) is placed on the photograph, ifthe bit is clear (0), no dot is placed on the photograph.

For example, a set of 5,997,600 bytes of data can be created byscrambling 23,520 Reed-Solomon encoded blocks to be stored onto anphotograph. The first 28,560 bytes of data are written to the first datablock. The first 48 bytes of the first 28,560 bytes are written to thefirst column of the data block, the next 48 bytes to the next column andso on. Suppose the first two bytes of the 28,560 bytes are hex D3 SF.Those first two bytes will be stored in column 0 of the data block. Bit7 of byte 0 will be stored first, then bit 6 and so on. Then Bit 7 ofbyte 1 will be stored through to bit 0 of byte 1. Since each “1” isstored as a black dot, and each “0” as a white dot, these two bytes willbe represented on the photograph as the following set of dots:

-   -   D3 (1101 0011) becomes: black, black, white, black, white,        white, black, black    -   SF (0101 1111) becomes: white, black, white, black, black,        black, black, black

The encoded image data is sent to an ink jet printer to drive theinfra-red ink jet nozzles while the image data is used to drive thecyan, magenta, and yellow color nozzles while the print media is driventhrough the printhead of the printer as disclosed in applicant'sco-pending applications U.S. Ser. No. 09/113,070 (Docket No. ART02US)and U.S. Ser. No. 09/112,785 (Docket No. ART29).

The image taken by the camera system is now available as a photographicimage with the data necessary to reproduce that image printed therewith.It is not necessary to separately locate the negative if another copy ofthe photograph is desired, the image can be reproduced notwithstandingdamage thereto and the image is available in a digital format which canbe scanned into a computer system as disclosed in applicant's co-pendingapplications U.S. Ser. No. 09/113,070 (Docket No. ART02US) and U.S. Ser.No. 09/112,785 (Docket No. ART29) for whatever purpose or transmittedover a telecommunications network.

Another type of format the so-called Artcard format is disclosed in U.S.Ser. No. 09/113,070 (Docket No. ART02US) and U.S. Ser. No. 09/112,785(Docket No. ART29US) and may equally be used here in place of the“alternative Artcard” format as described above. In the Artcard format acontinuous area of data is printed on the print media, in the presentcase, in infra-red ink on the photograph surrounded by margins printedas targets at the leading and trailing edges of the data area and asother indicia to specify borders and clockmarks along the top and bottomthereof to aid decoding of the data contained in the data area. Thetargets are used to confirm that the orientation of the card when readis not rotated more than 1° from the horizontal and to detect whetherthe card has been inserted front or back first. Otherwise the reading ofthe data would be unreliable.

The foregoing description has been limited to specific embodiments ofthis invention. It will be apparent, however, that variations andmodifications may be made to the invention, with the attainment of someor all of the advantages of the invention. For example, it will beappreciated that the invention may be embodied in either hardware orsoftware in a suitably programmed digital data processing system, bothof which are readily accomplished by those of ordinary skill in therespective arts. Therefore, it is the object of the appended claims tocover all such variations and modifications as come within the truespirit and scope of the invention.

1. A method of printing digital data on a photograph wherein the data isimage data from a camera system which has been transformed by an imageprocessing program including the steps of: a) receiving image datacorresponding to an image; b) loading an image processing program c)transforming said image data with said image processing program toproduce transformed image data; a) redundantly encoding said transformedimage data and said image processing program into a distributed form; b)printing said redundantly encoded data using an invisible ink on asurface of a print media while simultaneously printing out saidtransformed image data as a photographic image in a visual, humanreadable form on the same surface of said print media, said redundantlyencoded data being distributed across the print media such that theencoded data may be read and decoded despite a partial obliteration ofthe encoded data.
 2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein theinvisible ink is an infra-red absorbing ink with little absorption inthe visible spectrum.
 3. A method as claimed in claim 1 whereinconverting said data to said redundantly encoded form comprises forminga Reed-Solomon encoded version of said image.
 4. A method as claimed inclaim 1 wherein said step of printing out utilizes a print roll meansstoring said print media and an ink supply for printer means which isdetachable from a camera device forming said photograph.